Welcome to the

European Interprofessional Education Network

in health and social care

learning together to work together

EIPEN aims to develop and sustain a network in the EU to share and develop effective interprofessional vocational training curricula, methods and materials for improving collaborative practice and multi agency working in health and social care.

The EIPEN partnership was started in 2004 with partners in Greece, Finland, Hungary, Poland, Sweden and the UK. In 2005 we obtained two years funding from the EU Leonardo da Vinci Programme to establish the partnership, the website and national networks. This work culminated in the first EIPEN International Conference in Krakow September 2007.

In 2008 we have additional funding from the EU Lifelong Learning Erasmus Programme to expand the partnership, develop the network and shift the focus to quality assurance in interprofessional education. Core partners in 2008 include universities in Finland, Hungary, Poland, Sweden, Ireland, Belgium, Slovenia and the UK.

EIPEN will continue to be coordinated by the UK Higher Education Academy Subject Centre for Health Sciences and Practice at King’s College London University. We will also continue to link to organisations outside education and expand our stakeholder base

The network focuses on interprofessional education (IPE) in health and social care because this is of international interest, and a specific concern of partners:

1) Although IPE has been strongly advocated as improving interprofessional communication and integrated services since the early 1970s by the World Health Organisation, and there is a growing body of evidence of its effectiveness in some contexts, there remain significant questions concerning its implementation. These questions include the management of interprofessional learning and logistics, the preparation of teachers and mentors in the workplace, the mix of disciplines and transferability of learning, and resistance from established hierarchical uni-professional training programmes. Partners’ experience with other collaborations leads them to believe that sharing problems and solutions across borders will expand and improve IPE in partner countries.

2) There is no current network that provides a similar function, although there are actual and potential international networks with which EIPEN links for sustainability and to avoid duplication. For example, a CAIPE representative is a key member of the EIPEN Steering Group.

Products in the past two years include the network, an interactive website with a resource database, events, papers, presentations, papers and a DVD.

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